narrative

So I have to tell this one as a story.

I went in to work my Tuesday sprints, as I have been. I went upstairs and got the pair of 16K kettlebells and brought them down to just outside the cardio room. I did a few windmills and squats just to lube the joints, then I tucked them away so no one would fall over them. I headed over to the rower, closed the vent, turned on my heart rate monitor and stop watch and got down to business.

First, 1,000 meters at a casual pace, about a 2:30 lap time. As I neared the end of the warmup, I slowed down. Then when I hit the end, I stepped on the gas. I rowed 500 meters in the the 1:40s. Then I headed out to begin my double kettlebell snatches. But, where had they gone? I asked around, had anyone seen those blck things I carried through, nope. I looked upstairs, I looked in the weightroom, I could not find them. Then I stuck my head in the office to see if someone there had them. Sure enough, they saw them in a dark corner and thought some lazy butt had just left them out there.

I got them out and set up again. I figured that since I hadn’t gotten to do my whole thing that set didn’t count. I got on the rower and did sprint one again. I got off the rower and found my bells to be right where I had left them. Ten snatches. I went back and forth doing sub 1:50 rows and ladder snatches for a while. A lot of times, I would spend the walk from the rower to the kettlebells trying to remember which set I was on. I would oftern cheat and think about how many meters I had just finished and count from there.

As I hit 3,000 meters I suddenly found my math not adding up. I knew I had done 1,000 meters warmup so that means I should have bet on snatch set four. That should be seven reps this time, but I swear I did that already. It was also getting hard, fast. At 3,000 meters I found myself unable to hold the sub 1:50 pace for 500 meters so I dropped the 1:55 for 250 meters. I stayed there for a total of four, then back to 500 meters at a 1:55 pace. Things still weren’t adding up. I had begun counting down to my last set at 5,000 meters when figuring out how many snatches to do. I was a little frustrated. I had intended on doing 10 sets of 500s to get a full 5,000 out of them. Since I had done 1,000 meter warmup, I had really only sprinted 4,000 meters. Ah well.

Then I hit the cooldown. That’s when it occured to me. I had done 1,000 meters warmup. I had also done 500 meters I decided that didn’t count. However, in my rushing around to find the bells, the monitor had reset. All 5,00 meters were sprinted meters. I wasn’t sucking nearly as much as I thought.

1,000 meters warmup
500 meters sprint 1:50
break
Restart HR monitor
500 meters sprint 1:50
Ladder down from 10 Double kettlebell snatches
X 6 sets
250 meter sprint 1:55
Ladder down from 6 Double kettlebell snatches
X 4
500 meter sprint 1:55
2X Double kettlebell snatches
500 meter sprint 1:55
2X Double kettlebell snatches
Stop HR monitor
1,000 meters cooldown

Monitor
Time 31:56
Avg HR 167
Max HR 179

High box jumps (2 ft?) X 10
Renagade row wuss outs X 5/5
2 sets

The renegade row wuss outs were just me setting up like I was going to do renegade rows but just holding the position as flat and tight as I could

Chin ups 3X3

I think next week I’m gonna stick to 250 meter sprints but try to go sub 1:40.

The biggest loser

I’ve been thinking about the weightloss thing a lot lately, I mean a lot lot. I’ve been stuck at 240 for nearly two months now. For a bit I managed to keep it southbound but slow, now I’ve stopped and probably even tacked a pound on. I’ve got 15 lbs to lose and time is a wasting. So I’m trying to think about what has changed so that I can go back to losing.

My analysis revealed a couple things that I think occurred about that time that I totally stopped losing. The two things that come to mind or changing my rowing strategy and changing my nutrition strategy. I don’t think the rowing change is to blame. I went from rowing alternating 5,000 and 10,000 meter distances to Sprints, heartrate and long rows. In the end, I’m doing at least as much if not more distance. I don’t think this is responsible.  The nutrition, on the other hand, could be more at fault.

I found that I was getting hungry a lot and was starting to forage which is never good in an office full of women, cause there is always chocolate and candy around. So I thought I would start bringing some carbs for the afternoon to hold me over.  I believe there are two problems with this strategy. First, I seems to eat more calories in carbs than in protein and with less satiety. Second, it seems when I eat carbs, it leads to a cycle of wanting more, which returns me to foraging, but now with an additional meal under my belt (literally).

So I’m eliminating the carb meal from my day. I’m not going no carb or anything. I still eat carbs at breakfast and supper most days. I’m just not eating them in the middle of the day because of the cascade it seems to set off. In general, I’m just going to try and be more diligent about snacking, I have let myself get away with more than I should.

I think if I implement these strategies, I’ll be back on the losing track in not time.

In good news, two nights ago, I bought my first pair of 38″ waist jeans in a very long time. We’ll see how much they shrink in the wash, then we’ll see how much I shrink before the end of the year.